Sunday, February 24, 2008

Our aspirations are wrapped up in books, our inclinations are hidden in looks

According to the Global Language Monitor, the English language will reach its one millionth word sometime this year. By comparison, Spanish has 275,000 words, while French has 100,000. We are a loquacious lot, I guess.

With such an plethora of words available for me to use, I wonder why I overuse actually and awesome so often. Laziness, I guess. This must stop.

Here are a few favourite words which I don't use near often enough. The next time I feel the need to use awesome or actually, I shall just substitute one of the following instead:

In book news, Canada Readsbegins tomorrow. Sadly neither John K Samson nor John Mutford are on the panel this year, but even in the absence of these venerable bookies, it should still be a great battle. The books being fought over this year are:

I've only read From the Fifteenth District and Not Wanted on the Voyage, but at this point my money is on the latter. For the record, I have picked the winning book two years running, so there.~*~And now we head back once again to the shameless self-promotion department, where my lovely assistant will tell you that I have now posted my reading list for the Spring Reading Challenge. Eight books are being attempted by yours truly in this challenge. I may have bitten off a tad more than I can chew.

I like colloquialisms, although I can never pronounce it in a pinch.I use parenthetically. (when I can)Lately, I have been fired up to use the word incendiary but haven't found the appropriate occasion. I suppose my favorite multi-use words are still Groovy, and Whatever!

one thing that drives me nuts is when i hear news anchors, weather people etc saying Febuary....i had a teacher in school that drilled February into our heads...i dunno maybe its one of those weird psychological things...maybe i'll snap someday and be a serial killer..only killing people that say Febuary....

propinquityabstemiouslurgyopiate cordial - I know it's two but isn't it brilliant! "Aunt Betty used to make herself a nice opiate cordial to put herself right again! "- found it in The Meaning of Night, a book reviewed in your Winter reading challenge. I've kind of decided they will my dying words.

"Opiate cordial," she whispered, before closing her eyes and passing into that good night.

I feel for you, Todd, textbooks don't have quite the same appeal, even if they are not calculus texts.

"Groovy" is going to make a comeback, Jim Dandy, mark my words, and then think of what a trendsetter you will be. I love "incendiary, such a powerful word.

I will be standing right beside you, handing you the next magazine of bullets, Kelly, because until people put that "r" where it belongs, there will be blood.

I've kind of decided they will my dying words."Opiate cordial," she whispered, before closing her eyes and passing into that good night. - Gifted Typist, you have just made my night. I love the way your mind works.

I'm reading Mavis Gallant's "Paris Stories", a book of short stories. Interesting, I've just stopped at the story called 'From The Fifteenth District' which is a staggering 6 pages long. So, is that just a short chapter from a longer work?

I feel the word awesome has lost some meaning from overuse. I like the word parlay.

I don't know, Dale, it could very well be a case of short story cannabalisation. Hard to say, not having read the story you refer to.I agree about "awesome" and I think that's why I despise myself when I use it. I shall immediately switch to "parlay".